Belt-shifter.



G. 0. SMITH & O. A. KRAFT.

' BELT SHIFTER.

APPLICATION FILED 00117, 1910.

1,70,073. Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

A TTOKNEX' Cowman PLANOGRAPH CO..\VASHINGTON. D. c.

GEORGE 0. SMITH AND OSCAR A KRAFT, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

BELT-SHIFTER.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE C. SMITH.

and Osoan A. KRAFT, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Buffalo, county of Erie, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belt-Shifters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to shifting devices and more particularly to that type of shifter shown and described in Letters Patent No. 964,127, granted to us on July 12, 1910.

Our present invention has for its objects: to cheapen the cost of manufacture by obviating the necessity of having a vertical rock rod and link motion as shown in the aforesaid Letters Patent; to provide means for stopping the shifter block at proper predetermined positions; and to make the device adjustable so as to meet varying conditions due to different locations.

lVith these and other objects in view, our invention comprises the combination of parts hereinafter described and specifically defined in the appended claims, and the many advantages resulting from the use of the invention will be evident to those skilled in the art.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views of which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the overhead shifter. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the complete device, showing the shifters in their operative position. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lower cone pulley shifter. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line A-B of Fig. 1 and shows a ball stop. Fig. 5 is a modified form of the stop shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line C-D of 1.

Referring first to the overhead shifter shown in Figs. 1 and 2: 5 is the upper cone pulley of any machine or device to which it is desired to attach our belt shifter and it has stepped faces 6, 7, 8 and 9. The cone pulley 5 is carried by the shaft 10 which is rotatably mounted in the hangers l1 and 12. A hanger 13, comprising parts 14, 15, 15 16 and 16 carry rods 17 and 18. The parts 15 and 15 of the hanger 13 are bolted to the part 14, and the parts 16 and 16 to the parts 15 and 15 respectively and a plurality of apertures are provided in these parts so;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 17, 1910,

Patented Aug. 12,1913.

Serial No. 587,362.

that they may be adjusted to suit local conditions. The hanger 13 and the rods 17 and 18 are angularly arranged with reference to the cone pulley shaft 10 so that each of the said rods is parallel to a line drawn across the faces of the cone pulley 5 and touching the centers of the steps 6, 7, 8 and 9. A block 19 is slidably disposed on the rods 17 and 18 and is provided with a slot 20 through which the belt 51 passes. Idlers 21 are rotatably carried within said slot and serve to guide the belt through the same. Carried by the block 19 and disposed directly above one of the rods 17 or 18 is a yieldable stop 22. This stop is shown in detail in Figs. 4 and 5. In Fig. 4 a ball 23 is disposed within a nut 24 which is screwed in place in the block. Disposed within a cavity in the nut 24 and bearing against the ball 23 is a spiral spring 25 which presses the ball into indentations 26 (Figs. 1 and 4) provided in the top of the rod. In the modified form shown in Fig. 5 a pin 27 is slidably disposed in the block and provided with a flat V-shaped point at its lower end. Any suitable means may be employed to prevent the pin from revolving as for instance, a feather 28 may be secured in the pin and be slidably disposed in the slot 29 cut in the block. The nut 30 which is screwed in place in the block carries a spiral spring 31 which presses the pin 27 down upon the rod and into the indentations or notches provided therein.

At the center of each end of the block 19 is a lug 32 which is provided with an aperture and each arranged to have one of the pull cords 33 or 34 secured thereto. Disposed, centrally between the rods 17 and 18, in each of the hanger parts 16 and 16 is a bushing 35 (Fig. 6) the ends of the central aperture through the same being rounded out and each having one of the pull cords 33 or 34 slidably disposed therein. The lower ends of the pull cords 33 and 34 are provided with handles 36 and 37 respectively.

In Fig. 3 is shown the lower cone pulley belt shifter where 38 is the cone pulley provided with steps 39, .40, 41 and 42 which mate with the steps on the upper cone pulley 5. The cone pulley 38 is carried by the spindle 43 whichis rotatably mounted in the bearings 44 and 45, Supported by these bearings are rods 46 and 47, said rods being disposed substantially parallel to a line drawn across the cone pulley and touching the center of each step. Mounted upon the rods 4-6 and 47 is a block 48 similar to the block 19 but it is provided with a handle 4-9 instead of the lugs 32. The block as also carries a stop 22 and the rod above which the stop is disposed is provided with indentations or notches 50. These indentations or notches in both the upper and lower shifter are so disposed as to be engaged with when the block has carried the belt 51 passing over the cone pulleys, to the center of each step, an indentation or notch being provided for each step of the pulley.

When it is desired to change the relative speed of revolution of the cone pulleys 5 and 38 as, for instance, to shift the belt 51 from steps 8 and t0 to steps 7 and a1 respectively of said cone pulleys, the lower shifter block 48 is first moved to the left by means of the handle 49 until the stop engages the notch for the step 41 of the lower pulley 38, then the cord 33 is pulled and the belt shifted onto the step 7 of the upper pulley 5, whereupon the stop will engage the notch for the said step and thus the shifters, both upper and lower, will be made to stop and be held in the proper position for each step of the cones. The operation of changing the belt to other steps is very similar to that just described.

While we have shown a stop over but one rod of each shifter, obviously one or more may be used on one rod or one or more on each rod, as desired.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. The combination with an upper or driving stepped cone-pulley, a lower or driving stepped cone-pulley and its bearings and a belt passing around said cone-pulley; of a belt shifter comprising supporting brackets, adjustable horizontally and vertically, at said upper cone-pulley, upper guide rods carried by said brackets and disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said upper conepulley steps and touching the center of said steps, an upper guide block slidably mounted on said upper guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said conepulley, a yieldable stop carried by said upper guide block, flexible means carried by said brackets for moving said block to its predetermined positions, lower guide rods disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said lower cone-pulley steps and touching the center of said steps and carried by the bearing caps of said lower cone-pulley bearings, a lower guide block slidably mounted on said lower guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with the said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said cone-pulley, a yieldable stop carried by said 2. The combination with an upper or driving stepped cone-pulley, a lower or driving stepped cone-pulley and its bearings and a belt passing around said cone-pulley; of a belt shifter comprising supporting brackets, adjustable horizontally and vertically, at said upper cone-pulley, upper guide rods carried by said brackets and disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said upper conepulley steps and touching the center of said steps, an upper guide block slidably mounted on said upper: guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said cone-pulley, a yieldable stop carried by said upper guide block, lower guide rods disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said lower cone-pulley steps and touching the centers of said steps and carried by the bearing caps of said lower cone-pulley bearings, a lower guide block slidably mounted on said lower guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with the said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said cone-pulley, a yieldable stop carried by said lower guide block, each of said yieldable stops comprising a nut carried by said guide block above one of said guide rods and provided with a central aperture closed at the top, engaging means carried in said aperture for engaging indentations or notches in one of saidrods and spring tension .means bearing against said engaging means, flexible means carried by said brackets for moving said upper guide block to its predetermined positions and means carried by said lower guide block for moving it to its predetermined positions.

3. The combination with an upper or driving stepped cone-pulley, a lower or driving stepped cone-pulley and its bearings and a belt passing around said cone-pulley; of a belt shifter comprising supporting brackets, adjustable horizontally and vertically, at said upper cone-pulley, upper guide rods carried by said brackets and disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said upper conepulley steps and touching the center of said steps, an upper guide block slidably mounted on said upper guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said cone-pulley, a yieldable stop carried by said upper guide block, lower guide rods disposed substantially parallel with a line which is drawn across the faces of said lower cone-pulley steps and touching the centers of said steps and carried by the bearing caps of said lower cone-pulley bearings, a lower guide block slidahly mount-ed on said lower guide rods and provided with a slot disposed at an angle with the said guide rods but parallel with the axis of said cone-pulley, a yieldable stop carried by said lower guide block, each of said yieldable stops comprising a nut carried by said guide block above one of said guide rods and provided with a central aperture closed at the top, engaging means carried in said aperture for engaging indentations or notches in one of said rods and spring tension means bearing against said engaging means, pull rods secured to said upper guide block and passing through said brackets for moving said block to its predetermined positions and means carried by said lower guide block for moving it to its predetermined positions.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE C. SMITH. OSCAR A. KRAFT.

lVitnesses:

J. WM. ELLIS, WALTER H. KELLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

